It is generally the practice throughout the United States to provide many types of information to motorists by way of lettered signs along the sides of roadways. In certain instances, at least, the placing of such signs may be inefficient, unsafe, and uneconomical.
Consider a motorist desirous of orienting himself to the compass bearing of the street along which he is driving. Under the present system, if such information is given at all, it usually is only on street signs which tell the motorist whether the street numbers are, for example, North or South. In the few cases where directional information is given directly, the signs are far apart and not conveniently located. In any event, the motorist must continually take his eyes from the traffic and traffic flow control devices and signals to search out such signs to give him the requisite information as to which direction he is traveling. The search can be both time-consuming and frustrating as well as unsafe (to the extent that one's attention is diverted for a significant portion of the driving time.) Too, the chance of not perceiving a sign that one passes is good, because of the tremendous number of signs and other visual inputs that assault the mind while driving. Traditional direction signs, of course, add to the volume of distractions and unsightly objects along roadways. Any means of reducing their number without foregoing their usefulness would be beneficial.
Road signs are also expensive for any municipality to provide. This is undoubtedly one reason for so few on the roadways that offer information relative to vehicle compass headings. The dearth of direction signs adds to the general confusion of being lost since one never knows where the next such sign might be. For the motorist in need of orientation, the lack of sufficient numbers of direction signs supplied in a systematic manner makes the task of finding one oftentimes difficult.
Another problem of particular interest relative to the present invention is that of the motorist who is merely confused or who does not realize he is indeed lost. Such a person would normally not be looking for directional information, and therefore he might fail to see any sign which is located in the traditional manner. The freeway age in which we live makes this a significant problem in itself. People are constantly exiting from freeways by circuitous ramps, thus arriving at often unfamiliar surroundings, after having had their bearings confused. Often they are not even aware that their sense of direction has been adversely affected.